Daily Archives: October 17, 2014

Each week, the excellent Fantasy Review Barn presents a bit from The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. These are always informative, but skew towards (obviously) the fantasy end of SFF. Once in awhile, I see one too tempting to pass up and have to write a science fiction version of it. My first concept, Dark Ladies Who Run Hidden Schools of Magic and the Savage Northern Elvish Henchmen Who Love Them, proved to be a bit much, but this week’s list of Desert Nomads practically demands an SF answer. (For maximum enjoyment, read Nathan’s post and background explanation first. We’ll wait here while you do.) My mind is blanking on a couple of things,in particular the details of certain Jack Vance books, but here is an assortment of desert related SF.

Star Wars – Any resident of Tatooine. We all know that the Sand People walk single file, that Mos Eisley is a hive of scum and villainy, and Jedi mind tricks don’t work on whatever it is owns Anakin. I guess the Sand People and Jawas are the only nomads, but one might make a case for anyone on that forlorn rock as it wanders through the universe.

The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi – The jinn and wildcode of the desert outside Sirr. Earth has been ravaged by centuries of runaway technology, leaving the deserts overrun with mutated code.

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds – Skullboys, Carnivorgs, and other Outzone denizens. The Outzone might not be a desert in the sense of sand dunes and camels, but it’s close. It is also full of things like carnivorgs, which are awesome incarnate.

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson – Terminator, the city on Mercury. Mercury has to be the Platonic form of desert, right? Hot, arid, lifeless, at the mercy of the sun, etc. The city itself is nomadic, migrating around the planet on rails that expand when hit by the sun and push the city onward.

Brass Man by Neal Asher – I could be wrong, but it seems like everyone ends up fighting each other on a vaguely desert planet, populated by horrifying wildlife. If this is not the case, nobody say anything.

Dune by Frank Herbert – Hard to make this list without Fremen.

Faded Sun by CJ Cherryh – (Late edit) How did I forget the Mri on my first run through? I even left them in a comment somewhere else. Argh. Not only are the Mri desert warriors, they have superhuman reflexes and bond with animals that I vaguely remember as looking like small triceratops. They are possibly the ultimate in desert nomads.